Is eugenics a bad thing?
Don't see why. It seems admirable to want the best possible child - by which I mean one as healthy, resistant to disease, intelligent and so on as possible.

If genetic fiddling can give us that, then it seems like no bad thing. For some - such as Harris here, or Julian Savulescu at Oxford - it's a duty. I think they're wrong on that, but I can see where they're headed.

Next: suppose we could design a child with our desired aesthetic characteristics. Would that be wrong? Again, it's hard to see why. Of course, we might think that parents ought to love whatever child they have - but, if they have a particular preference for one sex or eye-colour or whatever, then that's up to them. The baby won't suffer as a result, and might be better off.

What's wrong is forcing this kind of decision on people. But you don't have to do that, and that'd have nothing to do with eugenics in the strict sense anyway.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Tue 17 Mar 2009, 11:59, Reply)